As the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have made it easier for video gamers and movie lovers to stream online video seamlessly, Nintendo is finally joining the video-streaming game with its new feature that will be part of the new Wii U console.

The company presented the Wii U in New York City Thursday, and announced that its online video application TVii will come with the new consoles for free. The Wii U will be released in North America on November 18 and the rest of the world by the end of the year, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

What’s in the TVii? Users can browse and watch their favorite movies through Wii U’s state-of-the-art remote, which has touch screen capabilities. You can see movies using your Amazon Video, Netflix or Hulu subscription, or watch previously recorded TV shows from your Tivo device. While the promotional video doesn’t specifically mention YouTube or a YouTube application, a press release by Nintendo stated that users can watch videos from the online video site.

The addition of TVii to the online video landscape comes after the latest updates for YouTube and Hulu on Playstation 3. When the Wii U makes its debut in November, it will likely trigger a three-way race of which console will provide the best online video experience. However, their lack of a YouTube app will set them apart from Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and not for the better. Hopefully, Nintendo will have a YouTube app sometime in the future to tap into viewers who are hungry for viral videos and other online video content.

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Ed Carrasco has been in the journalism field for nearly a decade. Some of his photographs/articles have been featured in publications such as the Guardian, LA Weekly, OC Weekly, the Fullertonian, Cerritos-Artesia Patch and Orange Coast Magazine.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from UCLA and a master’s degree in Journalism from Kingston University in the United Kingdom.